It's probably also easier to make cottage-industry money from a single useful tool and some associated services/consulting than it is to turn the whole thing into a big company expected to do the hockey stick curve thing (eg Docker).

It'll be interesting to see where Astral ends up landing on that; afaik they have a small team and have only raised seed money, but who knows.

I don't know if it's easier. I definitely think it's better, but there can be a lure to VC money that puts a company like Docker on that path. There's a world where Docker is a small company earning individually good money but with no hockey stick curve, and I think that's more sustainable and ultimately better for them.

I suppose they might disagree, of course :)